diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index b005fab38..1f4efb65a 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -43,3 +43,9 @@ tags
 
 # Node.js
 node_modules/
+
+# common python virtual environment directories
+.env/
+env/
+.venv/
+venv/
diff --git a/docs/conf.py b/docs/conf.py
index ef77f6bfe..41947d9f8 100644
--- a/docs/conf.py
+++ b/docs/conf.py
@@ -41,7 +41,8 @@ language = None
 # List of patterns, relative to source directory, that match files and
 # directories to ignore when looking for source files.
 # This pattern also affects html_static_path and html_extra_path .
-exclude_patterns = []
+# Don't try to build the venv in case it's placed with the sources
+exclude_patterns = [".env", "env", ".venv", "venv"]
 
 # The name of the Pygments (syntax highlighting) style to use.
 pygments_style = 'sphinx'